These vegan chocolate chip mini muffins are moist, tender and full of chocolate flavor. A secret ingredient makes these perfectly sweet without adding any refined sugar!
My favorite type of muffin? It’s a close tie between chocolate or lemon poppyseed. There’s something so satisfying about eating cake in muffin form–and the best chocolate muffins and moist, close-crumbed and bursting with chocolate flavor. These hit the mark on all fronts! And if you’re avoiding refined sugar or even liquid sweeteners, these muffins are for you–they contain no refined sugar.
Instead, they use a secret ingredient: date paste.
What is date paste?
Date paste is made from blending dates with water until you have a smooth, sweet paste that can be used in all sorts of baked goods. Because of the natural sugar content in dates, they are a great way to add natural sweetness to your baked goods. They also add a good amount of moisture to these muffins. You might be surprised at how well date paste works in place of sugar!
Ingredients you’ll need for these sugar-free chocolate muffins
Many of these ingredients (like leaveners, oil and nut butter) you may already have in your kitchen. Medjool dates can be found at most markets in the dried fruit section. If you like, you can swap in all-purpose flour for the whole wheat flour and even the oat flour if you like (the texture will be just slightly less soft).
- Medjool dates: Sweet, plump dates add body and sweetness to these muffins!
- Ripe bananas: Bananas that are deeply spotted and brown have more natural sugars and will work in conjunction with the dates to sweeten these muffins.
- Whole wheat flour: I use whole wheat flour for a more wholesome nutritional profile, but you can use all-purpose flour instead.
- Oat flour: I like the tenderness that oat flour adds to baked goods, but you can use more whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour instead.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder. I use Hershey’s natural cocoa. You can use Dutch-process cocoa if that’s all you have.
- Neutral oil of choice: For example: grapeseed, canola, vegetable, avocado, etc.
- Nut butter of choice: I prefer peanut butter, but almond butter, sunbutter or Wowbutter can all work!
- Milk: You can use any milk of your choice. I typically use almond or oat milk.
- Chocolate chips: If you need to keep these muffins refined sugar free, look for sugar-free chocolate chips. I usually use regular chocolate chips.
How to make the muffins
These muffins can be made entirely in a blender or food processor! You’ll simply blend the ingredients in steps. First, you’ll blend together a smooth date paste. Once you blend in the rest of the wet ingredients, you’ll blend in the dry ingredients and then fold in the chocolate chips.
Portion the batter into a prepared muffin tin, bake and enjoy! This batter can also be baked in a loaf pan if you prefer a loaf cake.
What do sugar-free muffins taste like?
I can’t speak for all sugar-free muffins, but these particular chocolate muffins are moist and not too sweet with a soft, almost squishy crumb. If you add the optional chocolate chips, the mellow sweetness will be greatly enhanced with bursts of chocolate flavor. You can leave the date paste slightly chunky for a more rustic texture, but if you blend it until smooth, you won’t be able to tell there are dates in these!
If you loved these muffins, you may also like:
- For another chocolate-y treat with a secret ingredient that keeps the cake flourless and gluten-free, try my black bean chocolate cake!
- This cottage cheese cheesecake is made with just cottage cheese and Greek yogurt for a higher-protein version of a delicious classic cheesecake!
- A decadent flourless chocolate cake with an aquafaba meringue
- This lemon meringue pie has a tofu-based filling with an aquafaba meringue
Vegan Chocolate Mini Muffins (no sugar!)
Ingredients
For the muffins
- 1.5 cups Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 1 cup water
- 2 large ripe bananas
- ½ cup almond milk
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil of choice (canola, vegetable, grapeseed, etc.)
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter or nut butter of choice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup oat flour*
- ¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (like Hershey's natural)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup sugar-free mini or regular chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a mini muffin tin or standard loaf pan with nonstick spray.
- Place chopped dates in a blender and pour in boiling water. Let sit for 5 minutes to help the dates soften. Blend until you have a smooth paste.
- Add bananas, almond milk, oil, nut butter and vanilla extract to the blender and blend until smooth.
- Add remaining dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Reserve a small handful of chocolate chips for garnish, then fold in the remaining chocolate chips.
- Place about a heaping tablespoon of batter into each mini muffin well and top with a few extra chocolate chips. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Muffins are done when they smell fragrant, tops look matte and spring back under your finger.
Tahnycooks
These look awesome!!! Goodness, I wish I had a slice right now! Since I don’t eat chocolate I’m gonna use carob! Yum!
erika
That sounds great!! Just curious–why don’t you eat chocolate? I’ve been curious to try carob but just haven’t gotten around to it since I have so many chocolate chips on hand…
Julia
I’m jumping up and down about these! They look so moist and full of flavor! When I read the text on the photo, I thought it said Vegan Double Date Muffins, which I thought was a real knee slapper. Love the double chocolate. Love everything about the muffins…will action soon!
erika
Haha–that would be a fab name for these. Bake these babies up and you’ll be on a double date in no time! 😉
Hope you like them!! They are definitely a moist, delicious muffin that I want to make again right now!!
vic@cakebook
These look delicious!! I love baking with dates too – they’re such a surprise aren’t they! Actually think they taste like candy as they are!! I’ve been off the sugar the last couple of months too *yawn* – good for my health – bad for my blog – haha 🙂
erika
No WONDER you’ve been so MIA!! I’ve been missing your post :((( But GOOD FOR YOU for getting off sugar–and staying off for months!!! I’m so impressed. Did you have a plan for staying off or did you just cut it completely out of your diet? Do you think you’re going to keep not eating sugar indefinitely?? I’m so interested in no-sugar diets…
Kristi @ My San Francisco Kitchen
OMG these look so moist and YUMMY!!
erika
Thanks Kristi! 🙂
Sandra - The Foodie Affair
I can’t wait to try these! Dates are great sugar substitution and healthy!!
erika
I agree! I hope you like them! 🙂
Kayle (The Cooking Actress)
Aww such a good girlfriend!
AND OMG NO SUGAR?? Just dates!? These look fab, I’m so intrigued!
erika
Oh why thank you 🙂 I enjoyed your instagram post of Michael’s whale texts lol!
Megan
These are so cute! I want to make something indulgent tasting this weekend, but not too unhealthy. This fits the bill. Thanks!! Great timing!!
erika
So good to hear, Megan! Let me know how they turn out if you give em a try 🙂
CCU
I cannot believe how sweet and delicious these are yet are healthy! You are a genius!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
erika
Thanks Uru 🙂
Melissa
Drool… chocolate & dates are one of my favorite combinations! I’m making this soon!! Thank you, Erika.
erika
YAY! So glad 🙂 Thank YOU for the lovely comment 🙂
Alex @ Cookie Dough Katzen
Ah that’s awesome that these are sugar free! Warm dates in the muffins sound delicious!
erika
Thanks Alex 🙂 I was SO excited these turned out!!
janet @ the taste space
I have been loving dates, too, these past few weeks. What a great looking cake! I will have to try that baking soda trick next time.
erika
Thanks Janet! Yes, I learned that trick from Katie at The Muffin Myth. It’s so interesting to see how the baking soda makes the dates completely break down!
Angela
I get so excited when I see no sugar or lower sugar recipes. This is one that I will have to put on my bucket list. Looks delish 🙂
erika
Yay! Angela, I do too. I would love to cut sugar completely out of my diet but since that seems to be nearly impossible, these are great muffins to have in your kitchen arsenal!
Alex @ Brain, Body, Because
O, MY.
I don’t even know where to begin! These look faaaaaaabuuuuuulous!
I am conflicted, though, because they use two ingredients that I’m trying to avoid (wheat flour and peanut butter).
I think that I can probably buy 3/4 c. whole wheat flour in bulk from Whole Foods…but the PB is a stumper. Do you think it would work if I used 1.5 tablespoons of additional oil? I’m trying so hard not to have PB in the house, which didn’t make me sad at all…until now! I want these muffins so badly!
Also, do you think you used about 1/2 c. chocolate chips? Just guessing.
Alex @ Brain, Body, Because
ps – CONGRATULATIONS, ERIK!!!!!!
erika
Alex! You are so great. Thanks for catching the chocolate chip omission–I fixed that. I used 1/4 cup (and then dotted the tops of some with a few extras…).
Okay so I was really conflicted in using wheat flour in these. I wanted SO BADLY to make them completely gluten-free and vegan, but whole wheat flour + oat flour is just SO GOOD and makes really puffy muffins. If you are okay using other flours, I would suggest subbing buckwheat or spelt flour for the whole wheat flour. Using all oat flour would probably make these really gummy 🙁 Or a gluten-free flour blend.
And yes! You can definitely use a little additional oil instead of peanut butter–I think 1 tablespoon would do the trick. Ha, I actually added the peanut butter just so I could decrease the fat coming from pure oil! Thanks for the kind words lady–hope you like them!!
Nancy @ gottagetbaked
Thank you thank you thank you! I need more recipes like this, Erika, so keep ’em coming! This will give me my carby chocolate fix in a healthy way. Lord knows I need the help – I keep stuffing my face and sitting on my butt. Summer’s coming and so is my lil sister’s wedding (I need to fit into a bridesmaid dress that is just a LITTLE BIT snug right now) and the way my gut is growing, I’m starting to feel a bit panicked. Maybe if someone dangled one of these muffins in front of me while I’m on the treadmill, I can get some exercise going. And yes, give the man a steak! He deserves it 🙂
erika
Omg!!!! Wedding!!! I love weddings!!! How exciting–congrats to your sister!! I hope you post some deets on your blog–I LOVE hearing about weddings even though as time goes by I am less and less sure that I’ll be having one of my own! Hah. Nancy, if you lived here, I would drag your butt to kickboxing with me (best thing ever) and then I would happily dangle muffins for you in front of a treadmill. Haha you are the best 🙂
Kaylie @ Skinny Muffin
Um. These are crazy fabulous. Need.
erika
Hehe. Yes!